Saturday, December 23, 2006

Well, Mother Nature is becoming schizofrenic (I'm sure I spelled that wrong), dumping an inch of rain, followed by an inch of snow, then temps above freezing to melt it all together into mush. So, Caleb, Nora, Dennis, and myself headed down to the verm since the rain and snow pushed the river up to paddle-able levels. We had some great surfing, despite the low levels, and Caleb and I even decided to hit some practice rolls in the chilly water. I was only willing to do one, but Caleb stepped up and hit three. Brrr. The two of us also had nice seal launches off the cliffs below Donut. Great time.

Wednesday, December 20, 2006

Well, I gave in today. Just couldn't take anymore studying without some sort of fun sports. Since the rivers are still dry, that meant kiting. I headed out to Lake Como (by myself, unfortunately, so there's no pictures) and was treated to some great winds. I learned alot, including that falling on the ice doesn't feel very good. See, everything went fine and I was practicing little boosts in 8-10mph winds. No problem. Then, the wind picked up, the kite started pulling like crazy, and I decided it would be fun to try for some actual air. The good news is that its a totally awesome feeling carving upwind and feeling the kite loft you into the air. It's an even better feeling when you're up there. The bad news is that it's a way less cool feeling when you can't stick the landing and wind up directly on an elbow. Twice. So, while I have one very tender elbow, I am also the proud new owner of some very nice (but used) elbow pads I picked up on the way home from the lake. Live and learn.

Sunday, December 10, 2006

Today Nate and I headed out to Nokomis to try our kites out on something that actually moves. We've been practicing flying while standing/running/dragging for a while, and were really anxious to be able to actually move with the kites. Soooo, today we broke out our ice skates and headed to the lake. It was a beautiful day -- warm, sunny, and with thick, smooth ice. The winds were light (~10mph), but that was all we needed for the skates. It's amazing how fast you can get going, even with just a light wind. It's an awesome feeling to be gliding along at close to 20mph with the only sound being the kitelines whistling in the wind. It's surreal, and I'm totally hooked. We managed to come away with about 2.5 hours of Kite time, no major bruises or injuries, and some great experience. We even met a couple of the local riders and got some tips. Can't wait for next time -- definitely going to try to get some bigger air.